7th grade!
I'm feeling good about the boys' teachers. I think they will both end up being good matches. I won't meet Monkey's teachers until tomorrow, but I'm already having doubts about one.
Disclosures came home today and she has one teacher who uses class $$ as a reward system (to buy treats, extra credit and skip assignments). I liked the idea, including asking parents to contribute the treats/prizes for the class economy. But then I read the paragraph explaining how your child would earn extra credit points (with a quarterly limit) when you provide treats/prizes for the class. WHAT?! Parents BUYING extra credit for their children?! Students should EARN extra credit, not have it purchased for them. I'm sure I'll be told the amounts of "credit" involved are not enough to "make much difference" but, no matter how small a percentage they end up being of the total points possible, those 40 points could end up pulling a grade up from a B+ to an A- for the kid who's just shy of the cut off. So, any intelligent parent will want to get their kids those points. Just in case. So... #1 - it's just plain wrong. #2 - it teaches children (& parents) that parents can get kids out of their responsibilities/consequences. #3 - it discriminates against children from low income families. #4 - isn't quid pro quo sort of unethical/illegal in such situations?
So... tomorrow I'll be getting myself an appointment with the principal and the policy gets rescinded or my child gets a new teacher. And I'm all ready to take this to the new superintendent if the principal doesn't back me.
Argh. I really didn't need this.
How did it go, how did it go? Good luck. I agree with you completely.
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